The measurements axe as follows ¡—Length of wing 4-9 to 4-5 inches, tail 3'3 to 2-75 inches,
cnlmen 1'28 to 1*15 inch, tarsus 1*15 to IT inch.
The pale spots at the tips of the wing-coverts are markedly huff in colour, and those on the
greater wing-coyerts are semi-lunar rather than fan-shaped. The black on the median wing-coverts
and on the tail-feathers is not very pronounced.
The specific characters of Geocichla imbricata may be summed up as follows:—
General colour of upper parts olive-brown, and of underpaxts ochraceous buff, nearly all the
b o d y - f e a t h e r s , b o t h above and below,'w i t h black crescentic tips [distinguishing i t torn every other
species belonging to the genus].
These 'characters axe absolutely diagnostic within the genus.
It is further distinguished from Geocichla varia and G. horsjieldihy having only 12 instead of
14 tail-feathers; from G. macrorhyncha, G. cuneata, and G. lunulata by its short tail; from
G. lunulata, G. cuneata, and G. heinii by the presence of pale sub-terminal bars across the feathers
of the crown; and fcom G. heinii, G. cuneata, and G. papuensis by the absence of white on the
outer tail-feathers. -
Young in first plumage of this species are entirely unknown. All the examples which I have
seen are in winter plumage, which probably becomes much abraded and faded before the breeding-
season is over. Some examples have the buff of the underparts and on the wing-coverts much richet
and darker than others, and may possibly be birds of the year. It is not known that the females
differ from the males in colour, but they appear to be on an average slightly smaller in size.
The Plate is taken from an example in my collection obtained in the Hakgala Gardens in the
high land near Nuwara Elliya in Ceylon, in February 1876, by Mr. Thwaites, and is life-size. This
species has been well figured in Colonel Vincent Legge’s ‘Birds of Ceylon;’